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The 60th editon of the Housmans Peace Diary, with a list of over
1500 peace, human rights and environmental groups, is out now.
You can pick up copies in Connolly Books and I think Books Upstairs
have a few as well.

This is just an observation. In Waterford city centre at the moment there are about 40 very big, separate, wooden sheds, on the main streets; this may be some kind of project of the Council, pertaining to the Viking history of the city. But still, it draws the mind to the issue of …. housing.

Today, on the news, it was said: There are 1,770 unfinished housing developments in the country, ‘many’ of which may be demolished.

As far as I know, there are over 95,000 (families?) on the lists for ‘state’ housing. Yet, there does not seem to be any firm group on behalf of those on rent allowance (and rotting in ‘private’ investor businesses) to enunciate that many of those 1,770 estates should be allocated to the (virtually) homeless.

Might it be that the many of the poor who accessed decent public housing in the last 20 years; that they are not protesting now about housing; and the myriad variety of individuals (and families) domiciled in these investor commercial domiciles, are just too scattered to put forward a proper case.

Being mid-aged in private rented; this month they are reducing the rent allowance from E76 to E56 p.w.; and that ‘the agent should ask the investor to reduce the rent’. He has not: as ‘he cannot afford E78 per month’. And so I (mid-aged, female, unemployed, on fixed income); must pay it; i.e. pay extra to a person who owns at least two houses; stay in completely insecure accommodation, that can be terminated at any time; or ‘move’ to …….. lesser……..’private investor’ accommodation; as the councl have nothing.
I have put in the obligatory ‘Appeal’ to social welfare.
Meanwhile, passing by hundreds of empty old houses, central, big, houses (that the council SHOULD begin to appropriate and renovate – because this urban sprawl cannot continue); and phantasmagorical new estates of empty …. investor housing.
And, some medium new estates, with …. empty ‘investor business’ housing.
Does any of this resonate, at all?

“An obvious place to start would be to force property owners to take a hit by accepting lower rents for their houses and apartments. This can be easily done with a vacant property tax. If a modest tax (eg 1.0 per cent of value) were imposed on properties that were vacant for more than three months, it would give property owners a substantial incentive to sell or rent out empty properties. Given the large number of vacant properties in many countries, this could lead to large declines in rent.”-Dean Bakerhttp://www.opednews.com/articles/Fighting-back-against-the-by-Dean-Baker-121128-894.html

It’s insane Bian… the sheer lack of interest on the part of the government and state in terms of provision of housing to citizens is beyond disgraceful and putting people into the sort of situation you face is abysmal.

@CL
‘Charity’. This tarnation country is over-run with the concept of ‘charity’. Threshold ‘the charity (quango); St.V.DePaul ‘charity’ (same), and on and on and on ……..
There are and there always will be, in this country, never-ever-ending ‘charity'; because, and to, evade ….rights; and also – to handily use individuals as conduits to make other people fatter and wealthier.
Anyhow; the main problem is: that sidelined way, way, away, from the ‘property’ section of The Constitution; is put the people who are born with nothing i.e. have ‘inherited’ ………. nothing; and these people (me) are put in …….. where? …. the ‘Social’ section of ….. the Constitution.
‘Social’ in the Irish Constitution, is political-speak, for; these can be used as money conduits.
No intrinsic property rights are accorded in The Constitution to people of and born in (and of) this country.

The Garda spin, by way of the Independent (so an unreliable source through an unreliable medium) seems to be that there’s a link between Eirigi and a failed raid on a gun shop in Offaly the other day. The ERU had advance notice of the raid and were waiting there. The notion being pushed is that Eirigi are trying to set up an armed wing.

I’m instinctively dubious about this, because Eirigi have generally come across as being markedly less stupid than your average Republican splinter group. I don’t see why they would believe that now is a good time for “armed struggle” when they didn’t think that last year or the year before was. Then again just about any self-defeating silliness is conceivable in that particular milieu, so you never know.

éirígíIn a statement issued tonight (Thursday), éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith has confirmed that Ursula Ní Shionnáin is a member of the socialist republican party.

Mac Cionnaith said, “It is well-known fact that Ursula Ní Shionnáin is a member of éirígí and has been for several years. The party is not seeking to hide or minimise that fact in any way.

“That she has now been charged following her arrest under the Offences against the State Act is also a matter of public fact.

“Even though she has been charged, I am conscious that Ursula is still entitled to a presumption of innocence.

“Unlike some sections of the media during the past forty-eight hours, éirígí is not prepared to engage in prejudicial comment about this case.

“Neither will we do or say anything which could possibly undermine or jeopardise Ursula’s legal defence in any way.

“Therefore, the party will not be taking any steps to distance itself from Ursula.

“However, I have no doubt that some of the more sensationalist media outlets will try to exploit Ursula’s arrest to insinuate all sorts of conspiracy theories and to engage in McCarthy-like ‘reds under the beds’ hysteria against éirígí. That, of course, will be nothing new.”

The others charged include one of the guys who was charged with Provisional IRA membership in Dublin back in 2002 in what was a high profile case. Also someone else with the same name as someone described as an Eirigi member on Eirigi’s website in a 2011 article.

first article does look like felon setting. out of interest, said on RTE radio news that they where charged with membership of the IRA. hypothetically if it is a new group and it doesn’t call its self the IRA where would those charges sit?

In a very, very small city in Central Scotland, a multi-agency task force apprehended 5 culprits last month according to the local newspaper. The task force was headed up by the crime squad of the local police but also involved customs and revenue and a few other big hitters in govt. circles.

The culprits they apprehended ? ? ? ? – wait for it – 5 window cleaners. Yes the long arm of the law made the streets safe and protected the tax payer despite the implicit dangers.

* Manipulate LIBOR and the Law Makers and regulators set up a task force – “Move on, nothing to see here.”

* Allow billions in drug and gun running money to flow through the unregulated City of London skimming coffers, and nary a word.

But. Beware. If you don’t know the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance, you are damned.

No mention made of the cost involved in apprehending the 5 window cleaners, nor was the scale of the monies involved mentioned.

But the 5 presumed guilty window cleaners probably owe hundreds of pounds between them in taxes. Upon collection of due taxes, undoubtedly the exchequer will be put on level footing and austerity will come to a swift and unexpected end.

Lads. I don’t have to tell you all, this could be it. This could be our way out of here. Our chance to make the big time, get into the MSM. Sure, BOB called us the Cedar House Revolution, but that doesn’t matter, Google that and it still comes up with CLR.

Smiffy, I’ve got a bunch of adjectives – you look after the nouns. Ivor, keep a close eye on the verbs. SoS you’ll just have to do the proof-reading. We’ll get IELB and Tomboktu to create a diversion – perhaps a post about the Frankfurt School or the effects of liberalism in the 1960s.

One thing I know. We’re getting out of this hell hole today, one way or another.

I should add keep your heads down so the search engines don’t catch you and stay well out of the ULA/SP mine field. It’s a bit of a run to the wire but we can all make it together. Got to warn you, if anyone falls behind we’ll have to leave them there.

Foiled! Mock Wallace wants to join and/or support your group. If you wish to abort the mission at this point, you will have to have two officials sign off on it and certify that you will certainly die if you go ahead. You may appeal yo a committee if you are dissatisfied.

Word has it that the SP, SWP, and WUAG are each digging their own tunnel. The WUAG and the SP have called their tunnelsTomas and Richard, respectively. The SWP have called theirs Penelope since they decided in a meeting the the other names were not revolutionary enough. The Workers’ Party are going to use some old tunnels that lead to RTE HQ and several trade union offices.

I have to admit that I genuinely enjoy hearing obscurantists like O’Brien whine about the consequences of her reactionary friends voting the wrong way on straightforward questions. Stupid people have the vote too, and in every referendum there will always be some voters on each side who misunderstood the question or got confused about their answer.

If we do see the entirely inadequate abortion rights under the X case legislated for, would anyone be up for sending a few thank you cards to Youth Defence, Dana, and the other lifer clowns who voted the wrong way in two referendums?

By the way, what is this horseshit I keep hearing about the X case not considering medical evidence that it should have considered or not hearing any evidence from a medical practitioner? Can anyone shed any light on this lifer argument?

It’s true. Kind of. But it’s a very disingenuous argument. The evidence of the clinical psychologist who examined Ms. X was taken but – strictly speaking – that’s not the evidence of a medical practitioner. He was, however, an specialist in the area of child psychology and had experience in the area of suicide. And he did confirm that she was suicidal as a result of the pregnancy.

What the anti-choicers are complaining about is that the kind of evidence that would support their argument (that abortion isn’t ever an appropriate intervention in the case of someone whose life is at risk from suicide). But, of course, no one at the time questioned the diagnosis. The High Court accepted the risk of suicide, but stated that the risk to the life of ‘the unborn’ was greater (essentially, ‘the unborn’ would definitely die if there was an abortion, the woman might die if there was no abortion, therefore – based on an equal right under 40.3.3 – no abortion wins). So it wasn’t an issue at the time.

But let’s not forget exactly what those who, like Peader Toibin, are actually saying. By not accepting the X case decision, they are explicitly saying that a suicidal 14 year old pregnant rape victim should be forced, against her will, to carry the pregnancy to term. And they should be reminded of this again and again, whenever they try to argue about X case legislation in abstract or statistical terms.

I think there are a few different things going in that particular argument. As Smiffy says, one of them is that the evidence was given by a psychologist rather than a medical doctor. Another is that this event occurred before the strategy had been fully developed by the anti-choice movement to portray abortion as being bad for women and not just bad for foetuses, and so they hadn’t yet come up with all their poorly-researched and manipulated “evidence” purporting to show that abortion, rather than crisis pregnancy, is bad for women’s mental health. And the third is that the court that found for Ms X, the Supreme Court, hadn’t heard any medical evidence at all. Which, of course, is not part of its role as an appellate court dealing with questions of law rather than fact.

With a budget to come – while FG voters probably won’t be the targets of any cuts/ tax increases, any fumble on the scale of the FF/ medical cards thing could further damage the already tarnished -and undeserved – reputation for competence. Any odds on FF overtaking FG before the next election?